Punctuation: Period

[James Browne <jimb -at- SSINY -dot- COM>]

Everything you wanted to know about the period parenthesis period problem,
but were afraid to ask . . .

This .). construction should never appear unless the period inside
the right parenthesis is an abbreviation. For abbreviations, it's
perfectly acceptable.

The following rules apply to parenthetical expressions when the expressions
appear within parentheses. (As you know, some parenthetical expressions
appear within commas. In addition, I used the word "expression" purposely,
since the following rules apply to BOTH phrases and sentences.)

1. When a parenthetical expression appears at the end of a sentence (but
   is not independent of the sentence), the stop for the sentence must
   appear outside the final parethesis. This is true whether or not the
   parenthetical expression is itself a sentence. If the parenthetical
   expression is a sentence, then the parenthetical expression should be
   punctuated as though it stood alone - with the exception of the last
   punctuation stop. If the parenthetic sentence ends with a period, leave it
   out. If the parenthetic sentence ends with an exclamation point or a
   the question mark, then place the punctuation within the last parenthesis.
   Thus, the following constructions are correct:

   The writer is anal about parentheses (the editor was disgusted).

   The writer felt a little obsessive about parentheses (no editor
   is going to screw with my writing!).

2. If the parenthetical expression is independent of the sentence, the
   parenthetical expression should be punctuated as though the parentheses
   did not exist. Thus, the following constructions are correct:

   The manager was worried about relations between his writing and
   editing staff. (One of the writers was glaring at the editors and
   seemed to be muttering about their parents.)

   The technical writer cracked; now he spends his days painting upright curved
   lines. ("They look like parentheses," the psychiatrist wrote in his chart.)


I'm sure some of you are wondering when you should make a parenthetical
sentence independent of a sentence. It's up to you. I like to apply the
following style (not a rule): if the parenthetical sentence relates to something
specifically in the previous sentence, don't separate it. If the parenthetical
sentence relates generally to the previous paragraph, separate the
parenthetical sentence from the last sentence.


Sources: Elements of Style, Strunk and White; Webster's Writers Guide;
New York Public Library Writer's Style Guide (the title may be incorrect);
Chicago Manual of Style; Webster's Secretarial Handbook; Science and Technical
Writing: a Manual of Style, edited by Philip Rubens

I really didn't spend all my time researching parentheses for you techwhirlers
 - we been arguing about this in my department for weeks.

Jim (Parentheses? Get a life!) Browne